Chemical Biology Program

MLPCN: Small molecules, big impact

The right small molecule probe can transform a research project. The NIH’s Molecular Libraries Probe Production Centers Network (MLPCN) offers access to thousands of small molecules – chemical compounds that can be used as tools to probe basic biology and advance our understanding of disease. Small molecules can help researchers understand the intricacies of a biological pathway or be starting points for novel therapeutics. The Broad Institute’s Probe Development Center (BIPDeC) is part of the MLPCN and offers access to a growing library of over 330,000 compounds for large scale screening and medicinal chemistry.

BIPDeC is open to researchers at the Broad and beyond. The BIPDeC team of scientists has helped researchers with projects related to cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, infectious disease, psychiatric disease, cancer, and more.

Researchers working with BIPDeC have the support of the Broad’s experienced team of professional scientists, many of whom have pharmaceutical and biotechnology backgrounds. BIPDeC scientists perform primary screens and confirmatory screens and can help collaborators design experiments that leverage the MLPCN’s extensive screening library. In addition to access to the hundreds of thousands of compounds in the screening collection, collaborating researchers also have access to a wealth of resources and materials, including state-of-the-art robotic instrumentation and highly-trained medicinal chemists skilled in optimizing compounds for potency, selectivity and biological availability.

The production phase of the MLPCN ends on May 31, 2014; however, the grants listed below offer funding and access to the Center after MLPCN close-out.